MIT Hybrid Concept Cars

FOUR NEW HYBRID CONCEPT CARS TO BE UNVEILED JULY 29th in IPSWICH, MA

Four of the concept cars will be tested for mpgs on a road course in the AM. At noon the cars will be on display under a tent. Each design team will also give an indoor presentation and take Q&A.

See www.IpswichRenewableEnergy.org for details on the festival.

See additional information on the MIT VDS below:

MIT Vehicle Design Summit
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In her inaugural address, Susan Hockfield presented her vision for MIT to bring “scientists,
engineers, and social scientists together to envision the best energy policies for the future.†By converging
visionaries from 31 universities to work on sustainable transportation solutions this summer, the MIT
Vehicle Design Summit aspires to lay the foundation for ongoing multi-disciplinary transportation research
involving all of the Schools at MIT. Integrating hydrogen fuel cells, photovoltaics, biofuels, and human
power, we answer President Hockfield's call to action with the first student-led project of this scope and
scale in decades. The Vehicle Design Summit has three key goals:

1. Develop 5-10 practical commuter vehicle designs with 500 mpg equivalence (or better) based
on emerging technologies, in concert with collaborators in industry and academia;

2. Aid in the creation of project-based, socially-conscious engineering curriculum for '06-'07

3. Set the stage for a permanent international consortium focused on green transportation for
India, China, and other countries with rapidly-expanding transportation infrastructures

Starting on June 13th, 90 solar car engineers from 15 countries will apply their understanding of
design, integration, and systems-thinking to the collaborative development of green commuter vehicles here
at MIT. For decades, universities and corporations have fielded solar car teams to compete in the World
Solar Challenge (WSC), a highly publicized race across Australia profiling photovoltaic technologies. At its
inception, many hoped that this race would produce vehicles that might one day be mass-produced for
consumer use, enabling commuters to drive to work on the power of the sun. Instead, nearly all of the 30+
solar electric vehicles today are identical. The competition has favored design convergence on a single,
race-specific vehicle too specialized for commuter use. Teams continue to enter the race, understandably,
for the thrill of exceeding 70mph across Australia in a highly-optimized engineering marvel. But many of
the top teams are wondering where the field will go next.

Tasked by the WSC organizers to envision a new rule set and direction for the race, the MIT Solar
Electric Vehicle Team has chosen to converge all of its colleagues for an intense 9-week design summit
aimed at in-depth exploration of alternative transportation technologies. Partnering with countless pioneers
in industry and academia to engage the highest caliber speakers and mentors throughout the summer, we are poised to have an impact on not only the field of solar racing but the energy debate as well. In addition to the publication of a technical manual at the conclusion of the Summit, we are committed to distributing all
of our findings as Open Source, such that anyone curious about these technologies and questions can access
and expand on our ideas.

Pursuant to our third objective, we have partnered with Neil Gershenfeld's fab lab initiative, and plan
to produce location-specific vehicle designs that can be built at fab labs throughout the world. By
repeatedly engaging with questions of infrastructure, government incentive programs for zero carbon
emissions, and current best practice on sustainability, we will explore both the socio-political and technical
aspects of this work. Unlike standard corporate R&D practice, as a student-led research initiative we have
the freedom to investigate any and all aspects of the transportation challenge that we are curious about – not
just the ones that will net profit.

It has been suggested that only students can truly innovate in the energy realm: not obligated to any
shareholders or limited by any proprietary agreements, we are driven by our passion to contribute tangible
products to the alternative transportation debate. We are excited to provide a space for students to make
traction on transportation challenges and lend a new voice to the global energy discussion!